Deliciously Ella’s PB & J Cake

Makes 1 cake

“So chocolatey and delicious. Using a mix of dates, banana, peanut butter and coconut oil makes the sponge really gooey and fudgy, which is amazing… though it’s pretty rich. The icing is pretty special, too. I use two layers of goodness to ice it: one mix of peanut butter, maple and vanilla icing and another of smashed raspberries with coconut sugar; you can only imagine how good they taste together, especially with the rich chocolate sponge. It’s the perfect treat for any celebratory meal, or your reward after a weekend baking session.”

Instructions

Tip the oats into a food processor and blend until a flour forms. Add all the other ingredients- not forgetting the 1 tablespoon of coconut oil- and blend until a thick chocolatey mix forms. Fill each of the prepared tins with half the batter.

Place the cakes in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes; a knife poked in should come out clean. Let the cakes cool in the tins, they’ll finish setting while they cool.

Meanwhile, make the icing. Drain the cashews and tip out into a blender. Add all the other ingredients with 60ml of water. Blitz then scrape out into a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to firm up.

For the raspberry layer, mash the raspberries on a plate, stirring in the coconut sugar.

Finally, spread half the icing over the flat side of the least attractive cake, then spread half the mashed raspberries over it. Place the other cake on top, flat bases together, and do the same again. Arrange some raspberries over the top. I like to sprinkle a little extra coconut sugar on the top as a final flourish, as it looks beautiful.